6 tips for getting the most from Groupon Getaways

Posted By Allison on Jun 20, 2012

This post may contain affiliate and sponsored links. We donate 10% of our sales commissions to charity.

Who loves travel deals? I do! Those Groupon Getaways deals are tempting, but are they really a good deal? We tried it and found out that they can be if you’re smart about it. We recently bought a Groupon for three nights in a one-bedroom condo from Key to the Rockies in Keystone, Colorado. We took the trip last weekend and it was awesome!

Here are five tips that helped us book a great vacation through Groupon Getaways.

1. Ask yourself, is this really what I want?

You have to pay in full when you buy the Groupon, not when you take the vacation. This might be the best deal ever, but if you don’t use it, you’re pouring your money down the drain. Before you click “Buy”, think about how this getaway fits into your existing plans and budget. Do you have dates in mind when you KNOW you can use it? Will you need to sacrifice something else to fit this trip into your schedule or budget?

2. Read the fine print

Watch out for hidden fees, blackout dates and expiration dates. $240 for three nights in a 1-bedroom condo in a resort town like Keystone looked like a screaming deal, until I read the details and saw that we would also be charged a $60 cleaning fee. That was 25% more than the advertised price, but still a better deal than comparable condos I found on other travel sites.

We were traveling to Keystone that weekend anyway and needed lodging, so the Groupon was a winner. However, a 25% mark-up might have been a dealbreaker for a trip that we weren’t already planning.

I also compared costs between staying in the condo and eating all our meals there vs. a nearby budget hotel with a complimentary breakfast and they were even. We loved the extra space and comfort and there is no doubt that we made the right decision.

3. Ask questions

Groupon has a Q&A section for each deal where you can write a question to be answered by the property. The speed and accuracy with which your question is answered by the property may be a good indicator of how you’ll be treated during your stay.

I asked a last-minute, nit-picky question via Groupon and it was answered within hours. It was the first of several positive interactions with the managers of our Keystone condo.

Even if you don’t have a question of your own, reading others’ questions and the response times can give you some good information about whether this deal is right for you.

Photo credit: Canyons Resort

4. Read Reviews

Read reviews of the property on one of the many online travel review sites. I was intrigued by Groupon deals in Costa Rica and the Bahamas, but when I read reviews on tripadvisor.com, I found that one of the hotels was not well suited for young children and the other had a lot of ho-hum reviews, so I moved on.

Don’t rely too much on a single positive or negative review. Get an overall impression from multiple reviewers and you’ll get a good idea of what to expect. There were not many reviews on our Keystone condo, but they were consistently good, so we felt safe to take the plunge.

5. Sleep on it

Some Groupon vacation deals will sell out quickly, but most won’t. If you check Groupon frequently, you’ll have some time to decide on most of the getaway deals before they’re gone. I saw the Keystone condo deal on the day it was posted and waited until there were just hours left on the clock to commit.

I’ve seen three Groupon deals for different Keystone properties since I booked this one. If this deal gets away from you, a similar deal will likely come around soon.

These deals are not being offered for charitable reasons. The ONLY reason they are offered is to fill rooms that might be otherwise empty in the off-season or for some other reason. You might be able to find a good deal for the same destination by other means.

Booking a Keystone condo through Groupon Getaways worked well for us. Using these guidelines, I will be on the lookout for more Groupon travel deals!

6. Try Groupon Coupons

Groupon added a new feature – Groupon Coupons – in 2015, and I was quickly hooked. I love the idea of saving money with coupons, but I hate keeping track of paper or online coupons and can never find them when I need them. With Groupon Coupons, I have easy access to hundreds of brands all the time.

If you already use coupons and deals, Groupon Coupons will probably feel familiar. When I used Groupon Coupons to order pizza for Family Movie Night last weekend, I found that the coupons were just slightly better than the deals on Papa John’s website. Slightly better is still better, and Groupon is a deals site I like and trust. So, I’ll be checking back next time we need clothes, luggage, food and other travel deals. Find Groupon Coupons at www.groupon.com/coupons.

This post was featured on ABC’s “The Lookout” and on the Huffington Post. This post contains affiliate links. I was compensated for promoting Groupon Coupons, but all opinions are my own.

I bought a vacation in St Croix last year and it was truly awesome. Two people, for seven nights, few yards away from the water for less than $650.00. Now this is with added tax. Airfare was only $260.00/person round trip, breakfast included… Sure it wasn’t 5 star hotel, but we spent most of the time laying down on the beach, snorkeling, diving… It was so great, that I’m actually playing with a thought of moving there, lol.
So in process of looking for that exact deal so I can go one more time to see if the feeling of falling in love with the place was real

You totally made the right choice. We booked a room at one of the budget hotels that Keystone owns and it was a dive. It was AWFUL. Luckily we were there for a conference and needed the cheapest option so we were only in the room for sleeping or I would have been mad.

So sorry! Sometimes you do just need a place to sleep for the cheapest price. We always dither between paying more for comfort and saving that money for something fun. Fortunately, this time we were able to get both.

It looks like you ot a great deal! That’s a very nice condo. I keep looking at the Groupon Getaways in Asia but haven’t bought one yet. I have specific dates when I want to travel. I’m afraid that I’ll buy it and then find out that the Groupon designated rooms for my dates are already taken. I have no idea if though if they’ll only take so many Groupons per date. So, I guess I’m waiting for a time when I have more flexibility.

On the one I bought, several people (including me) asked about availability of specific dates in the Q&A and received answers. I’m sure that a lot of your concerns depend on the individual property, so it’s nice to have the opportunity to ask questions up front. Once I hit “Buy” and had a certificate to print, I called the property right away to make reservations.

You lucked out on a wonderful deal and place. I’ve used Groupon for a number of things but haven’t used its Getaways portion yet. Great advice here. I too read multiple sites for lodging reviews. We’ve passed up on some lodging deals with no reviews found. Hope you had a great TBEX experience. Sorry to have missed it and meeting you and fellow bloggers.

I’ve used both a Groupon Getaway and a Living Social one, both with very positive results. The ones that bug me though, are the hotels that advertise $99 for a room, but only for two people. The last one I looked at wanted $30 extra per person, even for children. That was a huge dealbreaker for me.

We had that experience when we were looking for a room in Las Vegas for our family. Many of the advertised rates are for only two people. It is annoying and can be a tip-off that the hotel is not as family-friendly as others.

Great tips. Sometimes I get that over-excited feeling when I see a groupon deal and instantly want to buy (like if I accidentally watch HSN). Before I buy I always check other resources to make sure it is actually a good deal. I think the tip to sleep on it.

You purchase the Groupon online and receive a printable voucher in your account with instructions on how to redeem it. On ours, we called the property to make reservations and gave them the information from the voucher, and it was smooth sailing from there. I would be sure to have your voucher on hand when you arrive at the property.

Since each property is different, some may make the process easier or more difficult than others. Overall, it shouldn’t be much harder than making a phone reservation in the usual way. Just be sure to always read the fine print before you buy. Good luck!.

Great tips! I’m shopping around right now for a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands (haven’t decided which island yet) so my starting point is to look around Groupon to see if they’re offering anything and to see a rough estimate of budgeting. I’m also doing my own research of places as well.

We have used Groupon for Kenya, China, and Spain. We were very satisfied with all three. The hotels in China and Kenya were super luxurious. The Spanish hotels were less luxurious but perfectly located and fine hotels. All tours had excellent tour guides and drivers. We we were completely satisfied with the three trips.

We’ve been quite fortunate in our dealings so far. Just returned from a Jersey shore vacation at a really nice hotel right by the beach. I had read both good and bad reviews on the hotel but decided to go anyway. Same thing when we did two B&B stays booked through Groupon. All three times we did nothing after buying the deal but show up. No problems any of those times.

On Saturday July 25, 2015 I purchased 2 groupon getaways after reading the fine print stating that my money would be refunded if the agency could not book the dates I wanted to travel. This was close to $2000, so not an insignificant amount of money. I immediately called the travel company and was told that I could not travel on the dates I wished. I called groupon back (within 2 hours of the purchase) and was told that they could not refund it until they spoke to the travel agency, and that should be by Monday. Well… I called Monday and of course they had “reached out” to the travel company but hadn’t heard back. I called Tuesday and was told the same thing. I asked to speak to a supervisor but of course they were all busy. They would be “happy” to call me back. No one did. I called Wednesday and was told the same thing as the past 3 attempts, but elected to speak to a supervisor. Forty minutes later, a supervisor was telling me the same thing about being unable to refund without speaking to the travel agency. However, SURPRISE, in the middle of telling the supervisor that this was inappropriate, Emily who has handling the “ticket” got a response from Vacation Express. So..apparently my money is going to be refunded but I am not holding my breath. Never again will I use groupon or Vacation Express.

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